Hi! I'm Cole,

a software engineer and human being living in Salt Lake City, Utah.

A picture from the first day of my bike ride across the U.S. in 2023.

This website

This website used to be a React/Next.js website with the rationale that I could show off my skills to potential employers, but then I realized:

A one-page website built with React is just more complexity and maintenance effort than I have an appetite for.
If you're hiring me, it won't be because I can build a one-page portfolio website with React.

Frankly, if I were hiring myself to make this website, I'd consider it a green flag that I didn't opt for a more complicated solution than was necessary. I'd be pleasantly surprised that the website was finished under budget, on time, and that it won't have to be updated any time a new version of React or any number of myriad dependencies comes out. Wake me up when they find some critical issue with HTML5 and CSS3 and I'll happily update the website and then go back to sleep for another 50 years.

a wojak meme about websites being too complex

The evolution of my personal website. And yes, thanks for asking, I did make this myself.

I'm also assuming that in the near future when this website is helping me compete for the last human dev job, my personality will matter more than my programming ability, so hopefully the memes are working and I seem likeable already.